The Board oversees the strategic development of the university and ensures the effective use of resources and the general solvency of the institution.
The Board comprises members from within higher education, industry and commerce as well as representatives of the students and staff (both academic and professional services staff). The Vice-Chancellor and certain members of the University Executive Team are Board Members.
Who is on the University Board?
External members
Professor Richard Conder (Chair)
Richard is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) and the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA). He holds a degree in politics from Hull University and a Masters degree in business administration from the University of Bath.
In 2012 he was elected a member of Guernsey’s States Assembly serving as Deputy Education Minister having special interest in the development of tertiary education on the Island. Previously he held senior positions at BU. He was Head of the School of Finance and Law and in 1996 was appointed BU’s Pro-Vice Chancellor of Finance and Corporate Development. In 2002 he was appointed as the first Chief Executive of the GTA University Centre in Guernsey.
Richard is currently Chair of the University Board, Chair of the Nominations Committee and Chair of the Honorary Awards Committee. Richard is also a member of the Finance and Resources Committee and Remuneration Committee.
Read more about Richard Conder’s illustrious academic career
John Beswick
John is a highly accomplished senior executive, with extensive experience operating at board level in a variety of global roles, and is currently the Chief Finance Officer for BT Technology where he is also a Board Member of MBNL Ltd. He is responsible for all of the financial, commercial, risk and governance activities for the entire BT Group technology organisation across the globe.
Prior to BT, John worked for Deloitte and Siemens Microelectronics Ltd. He is a qualified Chartered Engineer, Chartered Accountant, and has a Bsc (Hons) Electronics degree.
John is a member of the university’s Finance and Resources Committee.
Alistair Brien
Alistair has been Headteacher of Bournemouth School for Girls, one of the top performing state schools in Dorset and Hampshire, since 2004. He is responsible for all aspects of leadership and management of the school which was rated ‘outstanding’ by OFSTED in 2012. He is also a National Leader of Education, supporting other schools.
He has strong local community connections and the School has links to the university through activities such as visits and participation in the BU sponsored Enterprise Challenge competition and the Festival of Learning.
Alistair is a member of the university’s Audit, Risk and Governance Committee.
Annette D’Abreo
Annette is co-founder and Managing Director of Ceuta Healthcare and is an Executive Board member of the industry body, the Proprietary Association of Great Britain (PAGB) and Deputy Chair at Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She is an industry expert experienced in operational delivery and strategic marketing and has received recognition through a number of awards and events.
Annette is a member of the university’s Honorary Awards Committee.
Karima Fahmy
Karima is a corporate lawyer having trained and practiced at the international law firm Hogan Lovells before moving in-house in 2011 to Grosvenor Group, one of the world's largest privately owned property businesses. Karima was Group General Counsel at Grosvenor from 2016 to 2020.
Karima currently holds non-executive positions on the Board of Latimer Homes, the Investment Committee of Clarion Housing Group and the University of Cambridge Property Board.
Karima has a degree in Law from Cambridge University. She has also completed leadership courses at Harvard, IMD and the Cambridge Institute of Sustainability Leadership.
Karima is Deputy Chair of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee.
David Furniss
David has over 30 years’ experience in the Financial Services sector most recently as Group Chief Executive of Teachers Assurance, the Bournemouth based provider of insurance, savings and investments to the education profession. David was appointed Chairman of Benenden Healthcare in July 2017.
Prior to that he had been General Manager of BMA Services, the financial services arm of the British Medical Association.
David is a business graduate, Chartered Insurer and a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
David has extensive Board and company chairperson experience and has sat on committees including Audit and Compliance, Investment, Risk and Nominations and Remuneration.
David is Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee and a member of the Nominations Committee.
Karl Hoods
Karl is currently ranked in the top 100 UK CIO’s for 2019 and has successfully led and transformed large technology and digital functions in challenging environments.
He is currently working as a Chief Digital and Information Officer at the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy. Prior to that, he has worked in similar roles at Save the Children, Department for Education and Partnerships for schools.
Karl is a graduate of our very own University, and has a Bsc (Hons.) in Information Systems Management.
Karl is a member of the Finance and Resources Committee.
Stuart Jones
Stuart has worked as a Director at Savills UK Limited for over ten years, operating both locally and nationally on a wide range of land and property matters. Prior to this he held positions at both PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). He is a long-standing member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), with sound property and financial expertise.
He has strong local community connections, attended Canford School in Wimborne and now lives in rural Dorset.
Stuart is a member of the university’s Finance and Resources Committee.
David Kane
David is a Chartered Management Accountant and a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investment (a registered charity where he is currently a Board member and a trustee). He has a BA in Accountancy from Glasgow Caledonian University.
He has lived in Bournemouth for the last 30 years, and recently retired from J.P.Morgan, where he held a number of senior global roles as a Managing Director.
David has extensive experience of board level activities and associated governance, primarily in the corporate commercial sector and also with charities.
David is a member of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee.
Jean Lang (Deputy Chair)
Jean is a lawyer and since retiring from private practice has been a Tribunal Judge. Previously she was a member of the Dorset Police Authority, Chairman of Governors of two schools in West Dorset and a Non-Executive Director of Poole NHS Foundation Trust Hospital.
During her time at the Police Authority she was a member, and then Chairman, of the Audit and Performance committee. She also chaired the Committee dealing with the West Dorset Divisional Police Headquarters Scheme (funded through a PFI scheme). Jean retired from Poole NHS Foundation Trust Hospital in November 2015 as Vice-Chairman and as Chair of the Audit and Governance Committee.
Jean is currently Deputy Chair of the University Board, Chair of the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee and a member of both the Nominations Committee and Honorary Awards Committee.
Sara Luder
Sara is currently working as a Solicitor, and has been a partner at Slaughter and May since 1998. She has been in her current role as Head of Tax for the last 8 years, and is recognised as a leading practitioner in tax in all the leading legal directories.
Sara has a particular interest in diversity, and formed the Slaughter and May’s Parent network, and formed and continues to sponsor its Women’s network. She is also involved in internal and external mentoring schemes, and set up the firm’s Female Leadership Development Programme.
She is a trustee of School Home Support which is a charity that works with schools to overcome barriers to Education, improving engagement in learning and attendance.
Sara read Maths and then Law at Trinity College, Cambridge and also has a LLM from Queen Mary College, University of London.
Sara is a member of the Audit Risk and Governance Committee.
Tola Oloyede
Tola Oloyede is a chartered fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) with vast experience in Talent Management across multiple countries. She is currently the Head of HR Projects for Europe and Sub-Sahara Africa in Halliburton, an oil and gas multinational company.
Tola holds a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and a master’s degree in Organizational Performance from Cranfield University.
Prior to moving into HR, Tola worked as a professional engineer in the oil industry for eight years in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Tola sits on the board of Heritage of Grace Outreach, a UK-based charity with operations in West Africa. She is also a long-standing member of the Scholarship Committee for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE).
A firm believer in continuous improvement and learning, she is the founder of Kàdàrà Brite a charity that sponsors the education of talented underprivileged children in Africa.
Tola is a member of the Finance and Resources Committee.
Des Pullen
Des Pullen joined ABF in 2001 as the HR director of its Allied Bakeries business in the UK. He became managing director of that business in 2003 before taking up his current role at the start of 2006. Prior to ABF he worked for Wickes, Safeway and Northern Foods, beginning his career at the newly privatised National Freight Consortium.
He is a graduate of the University of Bristol, with a BSc in Economics and Politics. He is also an experienced Pilotlighter, the charity that provides strategic advice to other charities.
Des is Chair of the Remuneration Committee and Deputy Chair of the Finance and Resources Committee.
Debbie Ward
Debbie has had a distinguished career in Local Government most recently as the first female Chief Executive of Dorset County Council and the President of the Association of County Chief Executives. Debbie has spent a majority of her career working with communities and a wide range of organisations to transform and improve public services. She is an experienced strategic leader, has led major sector reorganisations including health and local government and successfully transformed large and complex organisations.
She is a graduate of Middlesex University, with a Master’s in Business Administration.
Debbie is a member of the Remuneration Committee.
Internal Members
Professor John Vinney – Vice-Chancellor
Jim Andrews – Chief Operating Officer
Professor Tim McIntyre-Bhatty – Deputy Vice-Chancellor
Dr Lois Farquharson – Executive Dean, the Bournemouth University Business School
Dr Farquharson is the Academic Staff Member of the Board.
Professor Carol Clark - Professor Carol Clark is Head of Department for Rehabilitation and Sport Sciences
Professor Clark is the Senate Member of the Board.
Naomie Lebe - President of the Students’ Union Bournemouth University
Naomie is the elected President of the Students' Union at Bournemouth University.
Paula Alliston – Education Service Manager
Paula is the Professional and Support Staff member of the Board and is the Education Service Manager within the Faculty of Science and Technology.
Paula is a member of the Honorary Awards Committee.
Deborah Wakely – Head of Legal Services and Corporate Governance and Clerk to the University Board
Deborah Wakely is the Clerk to the University Board and can be contacted at BoardClerk@bournemouth.ac.uk.